256 



THE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



Effect of Method of Harvesting Maize. 



Method of treatment 



Left natural 

 Topped above ear 

 Leaves stripped . 

 Stalks cut and shocked 



Pounds 

 per acre 



1,241 

 1,224 

 1,102 

 1,07:; 



Pounds 



loss per 



acre 



17 



166 



Bushels 

 per acre 



22 1-7 

 21 5-7 

 195-7 

 '■) 1-5 



344. Pulling. — Throughout the Southern States there is a 

 tendency for the leaves of maize to dry up before the ears are 

 mature, and it has been the custom to strip the leaves from the 

 culms while they are still green and the ears immature. 



" Fodder pulling is effected according to latitude and season from the first of 

 August to the middle or even the last of September, \Mien the operator's hands 

 are full of blades and he can hold no more, the quantity is termed a 'hand,' and is 

 bound rapidly with a twist and hung on a broken stalk to cure. On gathering a 

 day or so later, from three to four hands form a ' bundle,' which is, also, bound with 

 a few twisted blades. The bundle weighs from one and three-fourths to two pounds 

 and forms the staple ' roughage ' of southern draft stock." ^ 



At least eight stations in the Southern States have investigated 

 the influence of this practice on the yield of grain, and in gen- 

 eral report a decrease of from ten to twenty per cent. The 

 earlier the work was done, the greater the loss. Redding^ con- 

 cludes that "pulling fodder" is only expedient under the most 

 favorable circumstances, but where it is resolved to do so, the 

 best practice is to strip the blades, from and including the ear- 

 blade, downward, at about the usual time of pulling, and in a 

 week or ten days to cut off stalks above the ear. Besides adding 

 largely to yield of stover, it is believed to be more expeditious. 



The Florida Station ^ reports that " pulling fodder " has the 

 effect of loosening the husks on the ear before the grains 

 become hard, thus promoting the ravages of the weevil. 



1 The Book of Com, p. 169. 

 8 Ga. Bui. 23 (1893), pp. 81-82. 

 8 Fla. Bui. 16 (1892), p. 8. 



